Two jailed over drug smuggling operation in Kent

Samuel Dunne and Keenan Hall-Shelton were part of an operation to smuggle cannabis into the UK and Spain from California between February 2022 and April 2023.

Tons of the class B drug was hidden within shipments of children’s toys and clothing by members of a Kent-based organised crime group. Dunne had been leading the group’s activities from properties in Spain and Dubai but returned to the UK on Thursday 20 April 2023 and was promptly arrested at a family address in Greenhithe.

Later that night officers also arrested Hall-Shelton who had been linked to a shipping container in the Gravesend area where officers had located the same type of cannabis packages that had previously been seized, as well as just under 2.5kg of cocaine. A further search of Hall-Shelton’s home address in Ash Road, Sevenoaks, resulted in the seizure of £20,000 cash and a knuckleduster.

More than 500 packages were seized in total, estimated to contain 3 to 4 tons of cannabis

The offences came to light when Border Force officials began to intercept a number of vacuum-sealed packages containing high grade cannabis products in various forms, bound for addresses in the Medway and north Kent areas. The drugs were packaged within children’s toys and clothing and were declared as such for customs purposes.

Both have now been jailed following an investigation by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.